Boxscore

Now that was impressive.  The University of Evansville dominated from the start Saturday night at Roberts Stadium, winning 72-40 over a Western Kentucky team that in its last four games had beaten Southern Illinois, Louisville, Georgia and Tulane.

Now 7-1, the Purple Aces are off to their best start since the 1981-82 team won 10 of its first 11 on the way to Evansville's first NCAA Tournament appearance at the Division I level.

"We put both ends of the court together for both halves tonight," said senior Shy Ely, who hit 10 of 14 shots, scored 26 points, and received several standing ovations from the appreciative crowd of 7,746.  "That was the most locked in on defense we've been all year."

The Aces grabbed their first double-digit lead over the 5-3 Hilltoppers eight minutes into the game on a layup by freshman Kaylon Williams that put Evansville up 16-5.  It was 29-10 seven minutes later, 36-13 at halftime, and 51-16 with 16:38 remaining on Jason Holsinger's layup.

"Western Kentucky missed shots they're normally going to hit," pointed out Evansville coach Marty Simmons, but UE's aggressive man-to-man defense also played a large part in Western Kentucky connecting on just 16 of 60 shots for 27 percent shooting.  "We emphasize to players that we have to keep focused, and we did tonight," Simmons added.  "Our guys should be proud of their effort."

While Ely was leading the offense with a point total just two shy of his career high, fellow senior Nate Garner was controlling the boards.  The undersized (6-4) power forward grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with 13 points for his second double-double since coming to Evansville last season.  "It was an unbelievable effort," Simmons said about Garner.  "Nate can do that.  It doesn't surprise me a bit.  With Nate, it's whether he can do it four, five, six games in a row.  He's come a long way this season."

Evansville outrebounded Western 44-28, forced 16 turnovers, and sent the Hilltoppers to the free throw line only twice.  It was the eighth consecutive game in which Evansville has made more and attempted more free throws than the opposition.

Williams, making only his fourth collegiate start, contributed nine assists, eight rebounds and seven points.  Pieter van Tongeren and James Haarsma added eight points each, and Holsinger scored seven points and made four assists.

Now 7-0 at home, Evansville not only goes on the road for its next game, but goes to Chapel Hill, N.C. to play the nation's number one ranked team, North Carolina.  Thursday's game will be Evansville's first ever against a team ranked number one nationally.  Game time is 6:00 CST, and the contest will be televised by ESPN.